The Birth of Violet
by Basil's Angel of Music
Summary: In this story, Iona gives birth to her and Basil's daughter, Violet. Disclaimer: I do not own The Great Mouse Detective, or any of its characters. They belong to Disney and Eve Titus. The only two characters I own are Iona and Violet.


One morning, Iona was unable to get out of bed. She was incredibly far along in her pregnancy. In fact, she was due to give birth to her and Basil's child any day now. So, on this particular morning, she was feeling very tired and struggled terribly to get out of bed because of that, as well as the size her stomach had now grown to. She really didn't want to stay in her bed all day. She felt awful leaving everyone else to do the housework and such while she was still in bed, but because of her difficulties, they all pretty much insisted that she shouldn't try to get up anymore until she felt she had the strength to. Mrs. Judson even brought her breakfast up on a trey. Once she had eaten it, she called her husband up to take the dishes down to the kitchen to get washed before snuggling down to sleep a little more.

When she had woken up again after her light nap, she felt a little bit stronger and more awake. Turning over to face the clock on the chest of drawers next to the bed, she saw that it was midday. She decided then to make another attempt at getting up. She struggled again, like before, but not as much and this time, she had successfully gotten out of bed. Once she was steady on her feet, she felt another contraction in her womb. She clutched her abdomen grunted quietly from the slight pain, but it only lasted for a few seconds and went away very quickly. She just shook her head. She had been having these contractions since she first woke up that morning, another reason for her to struggle to get up. Though like all the previous ones, this particular contraction didn't amount to anything, so she chose not to think any more of it and just walked ahead out of the room.

She went into the bathroom, turned the switch on the wall to turn the light on and got washed. Though, just as she walked over to the knob on the door to open it, that was when she felt it; a huge leak coming out from between her legs. This startled her greatly and looking downward, she definitely saw a clear puddle forming at her feet, getting bigger and bigger with each passing second. It was time!

"Basil..." she breathed, holding onto her abdomen again. "Basil! Basil! Basil!" she continued to call out to him, her cries getting louder and louder.

She stopped calling him when she heard footsteps running up the stairs and through the hall towards the bathroom. The door flew open and none other than her husband Basil entered.

"What's the matter, darling?" he asked her, a look of deep worry on his face.

Iona didn't say a word. She just nodded her head down towards the floor. Basil looked down, and his eyes widened when he saw the puddle. When he looked back up at his wife, she nodded.

"It's time," she said.

Basil just stood there frozen for a few seconds before taking his wife's hand.

"Then we'd better get you back to bed," he said, leading her out of the bathroom and back into their bedroom.

Once there, Basil helped lay his wife back down onto the bed. He was very careful and gentle with her though, since that was when the contractions started up again, but this time, they had gotten very bad. Once Iona had her head on the pillow, her husband began to stroke her hair lovingly.

"Just wait here, my love," he whispered soothingly to her. "I'll just go and fetch Dr. Dawson and Mrs. Judson. I'll come straight back, I promise."

He leant down and kissed her on the forehead before rushing out of the room, through the hall and down the stairs, shouting on his colleague and his landlady as he went. While her husband was away, Iona kept hold of her stomach, clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth at the growing pain in her abdomen. She was still only grunting because of it, though she was mentally preparing herself, for she knew that said grunts would soon become screams of absolute agony.

Thankfully it wasn't too long before Basil returned with Dawson and Mrs. Judson. Basil just ran up to the bed and knelt down beside his wife. Taking her hand into his own and squeezing it as tightly as he could, he began to stroke her head again.

"It's all right, darling," he said to her reassuringly. "It'll be all right."

Just then, Iona felt another particularly painful contraction, which caused her to shoot upwards, crying out in agony. Basil just caught her in his arms, holding her close and whispering comforting words to her.

"Oh, God, I think it's coming!" she cried out when she felt her womb constricting further, almost feeling like one of those damned corsets she had been forced to wear since entering this universe.

"That's all right, Mrs. Rathbone," said Dr. Dawson as he went round to the front of the bed. "Just spread your legs and push as hard as you can."

Iona nodded as she obeyed, though the pain from the constrictions made it very difficult for her to concentrate. But still, she kept pushing with all her might, her husband cradling her head in his arms and stroking her hair with Dawson guiding her through it all. Though try as she would, the child inside her just wouldn't seem to budge.

"No... no, I can't do it..." she whimpered, as she had now begun to sweat from the pain and her efforts.

"Just keep pushing, Mrs. Rathbone," replied the good doctor, who was watching her between her legs very carefully. "You're doing fine. Just keep pushing."

Iona obeyed and continued pushing, despite the sheer agony of it all and her growing tiredness. For what seemed like hours, she just lay there in her husband's arms, screaming, crying and cursing at the top of her lungs. These sounds, along with Dawson's constant commands of "Push! Push, Mrs. Rathbone, push!", seemed to be the only sounds filling the entire flat. Eventually, she felt herself grow very weak and began to fear she was going to die. But still, she refused to stop pushing until her child was born. The only thing that seemed to keep her going was Basil comforting her, attempting to soothe her pain and Dawson's constant encouraging instructions.

"I can see a head!" she heard the good doctor shout eventually.

"You can...?" she asked weakly, though she was starting to feel relief and hope that this torture was almost finally over.

"Yes, I can," Dawson answered, smiling now. "One or two more pushes ought to do it."

Iona immediately perked up at that moment and dared herself to get the child out in one, strong push. Summoning up what little strength she had left, she screeched out at the top of her lungs as she gave one last, mighty push, until she finally felt something coming out her at long last. Once she felt that what she was sure was her child had now completely left her body, she began to breath heavily as she just collapsed back into her husband's arms, feeling more tired than she had ever been in her life. Even the loud, high-pitched crying which came afterwards seemed so far away as Basil held his drained wife in his arms, caressing her hand and rocking her gently.

"Is it all right, doctor?" asked Basil hopefully.

After examining the screeching baby in his arms for a few moments, Dawson smiled to himself and nodded in satisfaction.

"Yes, Basil," he answered happily. "It's absolutely fine."

Basil sighed in utter relief before asking his next question: "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"It's a girl," Dawson replied, still smiling. "A beautiful, healthy baby girl."

Basil was just so happy that he couldn't stop the tears from falling from his eyes as he kissed his trembling wife on the forehead.

"Mrs. Judson," began Dawson, turning back to the landlady who was also smiling and dabbing away the happy tears with a handkerchief. "Go into my medical bag and pass me my pair of scissors, will you?"

"Righto, doctor," she replied before rummaging through his little black bag and taking out a large pair of scissors. She handed them to the doctor and Basil watched as his friend used them to cut the umbilical chord that still attached the child to her mother.

"Right then," Dawson began, standing up slowly, still holding the tiny little creature in his hands. "We had better take this little one into the bathroom to get her cleaned up."

Mrs. Judson nodded and the two elderly mice walked out of the room, taking the still crying child towards the bathroom and leaving her parents alone together once more.

"You did it, Iona!" whispered Basil happily, though he was still crying. "You really did it!"

But Iona didn't answer. Instead, she only continued to breathe heavily, and a bit more raggedly as well. Looking down at her, Basil saw that his wife still had her eyes closed and was just laying very still, save for the trembling of her body. This caused all of Basil's happiness to diminish until it was replaced with absolute fear and he began to panic.

"Dawson..." he breathed, gently laying his wife back down onto the bed before rising to his feet. "Dawson! Dawson!" he continued to shout as he rushed out of the bedroom and through the hall into the bathroom, where the doctor and the landlady where just finishing up cleaning his little daughter in the sink. He grabbed his friend by the arm of his coat and pulled him round to face him. "Dawson, come quickly!"

"What is it, Basil?" asked Dawson.

"It's Iona!" answered Basil. "She's not keeping up too well! I fear she might be dying!"

"Good gracious!" cried Dawson. Turning back to Mrs. Judson, who was drying off the now clean baby with a hand towel, he then said, "Mrs. Judson, do continue to see to that child for me whilst I go and check on Mrs. Rathbone."

"Yes, doctor," she said, nodding before turning her attention back to the child in her arms.

With that, both male mice rushed out of the bathroom, through the hall and back into the bedroom. Basil stopped in his tracks, utterly horrified at seeing his wife lying still and seemingly lifeless on the bed. Dawson, on the other hand, continued forward, kneeling down beside Iona and putting his fingers to her neck to check her pulse.

"Well, she's not dead," he said. "In fact, her pulse is pretty fast at the moment." Leaning forward, he then called, "Mrs. Rathbone! Mrs. Rathbone, can you hear me?"

"Hmm..." Iona responded weakly.

Dawson put his hand to her forehead. "She's very hot," he said to himself.

"Confound it, Dawson!" shouted Basil in frustration. "Find out if she's going to die or not!"

"Patience, Basil," the good doctor answered, now getting a little bit annoyed. "I understand that you're worried, but you have to remember, I am an army doctor. Childbirth isn't really my area." Then, going round the front of the bed and examining her very closely, he said, "Well, she's not bleeding, so there couldn't have been any complications which would've endangered her or the child."

"So, then..." Basil began, hopefully. "She willlive then?"

Standing up, Dawson smiled, "Looks like it."

His frustration returning to him then, Basil approached his friend, grabbed him by the collar and shouted, "That's not good enough, Dawson! I need to know for sure whether or not Iona will live!"

At first, the poor doctor was a little taken aback by the detective's aggression, but he understood that he was just in fear for his wife. So he just smiled and gently pried Basil's hands from him. Putting his hand on his friend's shoulder, the good doctor said, "I'm sure she'll be fine, old boy. Giving birth to a child can be very hard on a woman, especially one so young as Mrs. Rathbone. I'm sure she's merely exhausted after all that and just needs some rest. The best thing we can do for her now is give her that."

"You're certain?" asked Basil, still a little sternly.

"Well..." Dawson began. "Maybe not _completely _certain, but I do have a very good feeling."

Basil hesitated for a few seconds, but then remembered that his friend couldn't really be blamed for Iona's condition, and always believed that it was foolish to kill the messenger. So he nodded his head as his gaze softened.

"All right, Dawson," he said in a low voice.

"Mr. Basil?" came Mrs. Judson's voice from behind him just then.

Turning round, the detective was met with the sight of his landlady standing at the doorway. Her smile was still on her face despite the blatant look of worry in her eyes and she was holding something wrapped in a hand towel in her arms. Basil knew right away that what the elderly mouse was holding was his newly born child. Mrs. Judson walked up to her tenant and handed the little bundle to him. Taking the child into his arms, Basil just stared down in amazement when his eyes fell at last upon the little, sleeping face of his daughter. He could still hardly believe it. The tiny child in his arms was really _his_, and her mother was his beloved Iona. That was of course very plain to see, as the child looked so much like her. Tears of sheer happiness now beginning to flow down his face, Basil then took a glance at his wife, who was still laying unconscious on the bed. Basil then began to hope that Iona would soon wake up to see her child.

"How is she?" asked Mrs. Judson.

"She should be fine, Mrs. Judson," answered Dawson. "She probably just needs some rest."

"Very well, then," said the elderly mouse, nodding her head before she and the good doctor turned and walked towards the door. "The poor dear. I really do hope she _will _be all right."

"Well, we can always pray that she'll awake to us soon," said Dawson, in an attempt to comfort the worried landlady. Stopping just at the door, he then turned back to his friend, who was still standing in the middle of the room, staring at his wife and holding his child in his arms. "You coming, Basil?" he asked.

There was a short period of silence before Basil answered, distantly, "No. No, I'll stay here."

"All right," said the doctor, nodding his head as he chose not to push it further. He knew that with Basil, that sort of thing was useless. So he just turned back and closed the door behind him, leaving the detective alone once more with Iona and their child.

A few hours later, Basil was seated next to his and his wife's bed, still holding his sleeping daughter in his arms. Iona too was still asleep, only now she was under the covers. Now and then, he would look up from the child in his arms to his wife. Her expression was now more peaceful, her breathing more even and her fur was no longer drenched in sweat. Though still a little worried about her health, he now had a very good feeling that she would be all right. After all, if she _was_ going to die from childbirth, she would've done so by now, wouldn't she?

One thing that soothed and relaxed his fears was the feeling of his tiny baby wrapped in his arms and the sound of her light breathing. Looking back down at her, Basil's smile immediately returned to his face as he stared down at the little child. He still couldn't believe it. Since the day he and Iona discovered that she was carrying his child, the very idea had barely sunk in all those nine months, and now she was here with them. He and Iona were now parents, and this precious little creature was theirs. At one point, he even took the opportunity to lift her tiny hand slightly with his index finger, chuckling quietly to himself when her teensy little fingers curled around his own bigger one. His eyes began to sting as fresh tears of joy formed, but he refused to let them fall, not wanting them to land on his child's tiny face and wake her up. He was just so very thankful that she was born a very healthy little soul.

Soon, he heard what must've been his wife stirring in her bed. Looking up, she saw her turning to face him. Her eyelids fluttered for a moment and slowly opened. For a few seconds, her eyes just stared blankly at him before a warm smile began to form on her lips.

"Hi, Basil..." she said tiredly.

Returning her smile, Basil answered, "Hello, my dear. How are you feeling?"

Iona just let out a big sigh as she turned over onto her back, hand over her forehead. "Still really tired," she replied. Turning to face him again, she then noticed the little bundle in his arms. "Hey, is that...?" she began to ask, pointing at it.

"Yes, my love," said Basil, lowering the child down a little so that his wife could see her daughter's face. "This is our child."

Iona's eyes immediately widened when they fell upon the child's face. "Boy or girl?" she asked.

"It's a girl," smiled Basil.

Iona then looked up at her husband. "Could I... see her?"

"Of course, darling," answered Basil, standing from his chair and taking the little mouse over to her mother.

Iona was able to sit herself up before receiving the baby into her arms. She smiled and let out a soft gasp of adoration when she was able to take a better look at her child. Her child. Her child. Was it _really _her child? She could hardly believe it. The baby in her arms was actually _hers_!

"She is so beautiful..." she breathed, unable to take her eyes away from the little face, framed by the soft blanket around her.

"Yes, indeed she is," Basil answered happily, taking a seat beside his wife and putting an arm around her as he too continued to stare down at the little mouse. "Thus not surprising though, since she does look very much like you after all."

Iona blushed and giggled at the compliment, but then felt the need to point out, "Well, I'm not the _only _one she resembles Basil. She might have my thick, curly brown hair, but she also has that lighter muzzle of yours."

Basil just chuckled. "My dear, I noticed that the very moment she was born."

Iona laughed quietly in response. "So, what's her name?"

"Oh.. er... I haven't given her a name yet," Basil answered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You haven't?" asked Iona, a little surprised. "How come?"

"Because," Basil began. "I was actually thinking that since this is your first child, as the mother, _you _should be the one to name her."

"But she's _your _first child as well, Basil," said Iona. "Unless, of course, you have some others by other women you've befriended that you're not telling me about," she added, eyeing him in mock suspicion.

Understanding that his wife was only joking, Basil just chuckled again as he shook his head. "No, I do not have any other children," he smiled. "Besides, the only other woman I had been in a romantic relationship with besides yourself was Relda, and I most definitely did _not _have any children with her."

Iona laughed quietly again. "Well, since this is your first child also, as her father, you have as much right to naming her as I do."

"Yes, well," Basil began. "My head is swimming with all kinds of ideas for names, and I just can't seem to pick one anyway. So I'm afraid it's up to you, my dear."

Just then, Iona looked off into space, trying to think of the perfect name for their child. She seemed to be having trouble as well, so she decided to look around the room, hoping for some kind of inspiration. Looking back down at the baby, she noticed for the first time that the colour of the blanket used to wrap her in was of a violet colour. She then looked to the vase on the chest of drawers next to the bed and saw that it contained violets. An idea came to her.

"How does Violet sound to you?" she asked Basil.

"Violet..." the detective said thoughtfully, taking his turn to stare off into the space. "Violet Rathone..." After a few seconds, his smile returned to his face as he nodded approvingly. "Yes, I like that. I like that very much."

"You do?" asked Iona.

Looking back down at his wife, he smiled down at her and answered. "Yes, I do. It's perfect."

"Okay, Violet it is then," Iona smiled back. Looking down at her baby, she then said lovingly to her, "Welcome to the world, little Violet Rathbone."

Just then, Basil carefully pulled his wife close and placed a loving kiss to her forehead. "Thank you, Iona."

Iona looked up at her husband in confusion. "For what, exactly?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"For giving me such a wonderful gift of course," he answered, motioning down to little Violet.

Iona smiled. "No problem," she said, leaning up and planting a loving kiss to her husband's lips. Basil put a hand to his wife's face, causing the kiss to become deeper. They soon reluctantly parted when they felt themselves become low on air and continued to stare down at their precious little Violet, still sleeping peacefully in her mother's arms.


End file.
